I'm not 100% sure of what it was anymore (CRS, eh?, but I do remember more than one of each major swear (Fuck and shit included) and a few Hebrew swears and slurs about that mashugina Crosby not getting nearly as much as Ovechkin. I also remember it not having much of a major structure.

Okay, here's my take as a vaunted FINANCIAL ANALYST ON WALL ST (actually on 57th St, but whatever). These numbers are rough, but you get the general idea.

A) Ovy left tons of money on the table towards the end of the deal as someone already wrote.B) Assume inflation at 2%, this deal pays Ovy in the following 13 years ($ MM):98.828.658.488.318.158.878.708.538.368.208.047.88We're currently in a high inflation market, so those numbers would be even smaller.C) Those numbers are EXTREMELY reasonable, even with only inflationary growth in revenue/cap. If the NHL manages to grow a fan base, these numbers become ridiculously competitive. There is essentially a gap of 1MM, 2MM, and 3.5MM "inflationary dollars" left on the table in years 3, 8, and 12 (monotonically increasing). D) This gives the Caps plenty of flexibility, especially in later years.E) Perhaps most telling, unless I've misunderstood the rules, the Caps are now committing to spending $47.692 MM+ next year because of the 20% rule.F) I'm really excited about this deal. I think this makes tons of sense fr the Caps, but obviously comes at a huge risk if Ovy gets injured (I have no knowledge of the insurance situation).

Agreed -- kudos, Rage! Helluva job on the analysis, and an interesting point about the 20% rule.

As for the terms, basically the team presented 6 years @ $9M (the $54M originally reported), which apparently Ovechkin was ready to sign. Then the team decided to offer a "second" contract to start after that term -- like a free-agency raise at the end of the six years -- and the final result of the ensuing at-the-table negotiations was $10M per year for 7 more years. Hence, $124/13yrs.

Rage, great analysis, although you are misunderstanding the 20% rule. The language of the CBA says "team's upper cap limit", not total cap number, so the caps don't have to raise their salary at all if they don't want to. Basically, it's just 20% of the cap (although I imagine the language is as it is because team's cap limits can be lowered due to penalties for going over in previous years). Now, it's almost agiven that the Caps will be raising salary anyway, especially for Green, but there's no urgent need to meet that number to keep OV's contract legal or anything.

The "professional" hockey media are up in arms though, with quick jabs being taken by THN's Ken Campbell and some talking heads over at TSN.ca (Glenn Healy: "They stink! I'd take Crosby over Ovechkin any day"). They compared the contract to Philly's recent deal, as well as the Isles' deal with Yashin and the Jagr debacle.

All everyone's hearing is "13 years/$124 million." They haven't sat down and actually read the terms of the contract. Give it a few more days once the Caps begrudgingly release more details. It'll start to sound more sensible and the experts at THN, TSN, CBC and Eklund will find something else to whine about.

This sounds like a crazy thing to do, but Rage brings up interesting points. I read somewhere (CBC or TSN) that the projected salary for a high caliber player in five to six years will be around $15 million.